Alex Bellini is sick of sending daily updates. “Listen up, he tells his fans. "I hope you all understand why I say that I can’t and don’t feel like writing on this f*@#*#@# site and I better not have to say it again.” (Click to enlarge).
“The situation is serious,” he says exhausted and moody. “But I’m ok, I’m not in any danger, let’s be clear about that!” (Click to enlarge).
Alex takes a break from daily dispatches. Image sent live over Contact 3.0 courtesy of Alex (click to enlarge). All images sent live over Contact 3.0 courtesy of Alex (click to enlarge).
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Alex Bellini: Welcome to the dark side of Contact 3.0
Posted: Feb 24, 2006 10:10 am EST
(TheOceans.net) He’s been here before, and he knows it. Alex Bellini has seen enough broken oars, enough rough seas to write daily updates for the next six months.
That’s just the problem – daily updates. Alex has Contact 3.0 and like other rowers, he uses the technology to send live images and updates direct from the Atlantic. The Italian rower has sent us some of the best dispatches and pics from the ocean this season.
But there’s a dark side to Contact, sort of like Ed TV - the movie of one guy’s life 24/7 – viewers can never get enough.
'Reality' row
Fans, media, friends and family have been following Alex's adventure as if they had grabbed an oar and were rowing right beside him.
His inbox is flooded with email and sms each day from adoring fans all over the world, asking him logistical and personal questions non-stop, which he takes the better half of every dispatch to answer personally: Dear Simone, Dear Andrea, Dear Thomas, etc.
Now he’s sick of it.
Adoring fans – GO AWAY!
“Some of you have been asking me, insisting in fact, that I update the website,” writes Alex. “Well, just so you know I am neither in a position to update nor do I feel like doing it.”
Alex hasn’t rowed for 12 days. He’s been fighting strong current and 18 knot winds from the NE for nearly 2 weeks. According to the solo Italian rower, it looks as if it’ll be much of the same for at least another 10 days.
Likelihood of reaching Brazil – it’s a matter of currents he says - and it’s getting slimmer by the day. “Fear has set in – and it’s got me by the throat.”
Bugging out with Contact
“The situation is serious,” he says exhausted and moody. “But I’m ok, I’m not in any danger, let’s be clear about that!”
His message to fans: “Listen up. I hope you all understand why I say that I can’t and don’t feel like writing on this f*@#*#@# site and I better not have to say it again.” Truth is, after 159 days, 3 hrs, 38 min – and this being his second attempt – who can blame the guy for bugging out?
“I’ll send updates only, and ONLY when I f#%^^## feel like it – OK?!
Alex over and out.
Alex Bellini departed Genova, Italy on September 18th, 2005 for his second attempt to row the Atlantic Ocean (E-W). The 27-year old Italian had attempted a similar route in 2004, ending when technical problems and bad weather forced his boat onto the rocks of Formentera Island, off the coast of Spain.
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